Workshop Speaker
The Art of Topics: Recovering Common Sense and Ingenuity in the Rhetoric Classroom
Few aspects of rhetoric are more neglected or misunderstood than invention. If it is taught at all, it often takes the form of academic “research” or “analysis,” which is tedious. The ancients offer a better way: the art of topics. Using Cicero’s Topica as our guide, we will explore how topics help students to canvas a matter quickly and thoroughly while enabling them to devise copious arguments without the need for lengthy research or reflection, thus shifting our focus away from science, reason, and expert knowledge toward prudence, ingenuity, and common sense.
Brent Pinkall is a Junior Fellow of Rhetoric at New Saint Andrews College. He has taught rhetoric for nearly a decade and serves as a judge for the ACCS Chrysostom Oratory Competition. He has spent many years ministering in China, training Chinese classical Christian educators, and helping to establish a classical Christian college there. He is the author of Redeeming the Six Arts: A Christian Approach to Chinese Classical Education (Roman Roads Press), and he is currently writing a series of textbooks on classical rhetoric.